Ravens bingo night raises £2000 for charity

The bingo night was organised by Oban Raven Laura Mackay and teammate Carrie Craik who both have sons with type 1 diabetes. 

Almost £4000 was raised in total, of which £1000 will go to Diabetes UK and £1000 will go to the Macmillan Day Bed Unit at Lorn and Islands Hospital. The rest will be used by Oban Ravens squash team.

Laura, who works for the Bank of Scotland, will also be applying for a further £500 for Diabetes UK via the Lloyds Bank matched funding scheme. 

The team will be donating £700 more than last year to charity and Laura said they are "delighted" with the amount. 

She added: “Due to the financial climate and the cost of living crisis everything has gone up, so we didn’t expect to raise as much as we did. 

“We were hoping to match last year’s target, never mind beat it.”

The Oban Ravens thanked all those who attended the event as well as people and businesses in the town who made generous donations to the raffle.

The £200 top bingo cash prize was donated by Anderson Banks and another kind business who wish to remain anonymous. 

Thanks also go to Kirsty Mackinnon who has a daughter with type 1 diabetes and offered her support despite not being a member of the Ravens. She sold an extraordinary amount of raffle tickets and went around local businesses asking for donations. 

The Oban Ravens are now gearing up for their next WISPS tournament on Sunday March 30 in Glasgow. 

The ladies train at Atlantis Leisure, Oban, every Thursday evening. Anyone interested in joining the team can find out more by visiting the Oban Ravens Squash Team Facebook page.